Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
For Part 1, click HERE . How did Paul’s earliest commentators view his juxtaposition of music and drunkenness, and did they connect it to the ancient Greek ideas of musical ethos described in Part I? Origen, one of the earliest commentators on Paul, writes about Ephesians 5:18-19: One, however, who…
Perhaps it is because I am a musician that I have always found Ephesians 5:18-19 so arbitrary. But isn’t it a little odd to contrast music and drunkenness? Perhaps it is not obvious that that is what Paul is doing; I know, for myself, that it is remarkably easy to…
In 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Paul deals with how the Corinthian Christians are supposed to be relating to unbelieving spouses. He essentially tells them, “Look, if your unbelieving spouse is willing to stay with you as a faithful Christian, don’t initiate a divorce. If he/she wants to leave you, let him/her…
For Part 1, click HERE . Those who focus on the supposed “pacifism” of Jesus and condemn the violence of God’s judgments throughout the Old Testament overlook the ministry of sacrificial bloodshed as an alternative to human bloodshed. The sword bearing of the sacrificial system was introduced to avoid the…
How should a Christian respond to the objection that the Bible, like the Koran, is a book of violence and bloodshed? Numerous answers have been offered by well-meaning exegetes, but none of them gets to the heart of the matter: God desires to place a sword in the hands of…
Beginning this summer, Dr. Alastair Roberts will join the Theopolis Institute as an adjunct Senior Fellow, the Institute has announced. Dr. Roberts will be a regular on the Theopolis podcast, teach intensive courses and in the Fellows Program, and help develop new programs and outlets. Roberts earned his PhD from…
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John 5:30: ?I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.?E Jesus comes to do the Father?s will, and this means that the Father?s will…
This morning I want to address the students in the congregation ?Enot merely the college students but all other students we well. During the Christmas holidays, you will probably spend much more of your time at home than you have over the past few months. This could be a great…
Here’s a methodological oddity in some treatments of justification: On the one hand, justification is taken as a sum of the gospel. On the other hand, virtually the ONLY discussion of justification in the OT is philological ?Ethe meaning of the terms ?Eand often even this is limited to a…
Some additional notes on John 5, largely indebted to Gary Burge’s NIV Application commentary. It has been said that the synoptic gospels ?EMatthew, Mark, and Luke ?Eare essentially passion narratives with long introductions. That is not really a fair way to describe what goes on in the synoptics, and this…
In John 5, Jesus claims that His authority to pass judgment and His power and raise the dead both come from the Father. How are these two prerogatives related? Are they identical? Does Jesus give life and condemn to death in passing judgment? It seems that this is possible: 1)…
A few thoughts after listening to student presentations on feminist theology all morning. (I know, BTW, that there are all sorts and conditions of feminist theology.) 1) Rosemary Reuther says that Jesus’ maleness is an “accident,” on par with the accident of His Jewishness or the fact that he was…
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